Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Cr-apartment innovation: Don't let the tenants have cars

Comments (9)

LOL. Complete disaster - most residents of "car-free" apartments have cars - they just want to be able to park them on the street, without having to pay for a parking space. It's not that they don't want to own a car.

Besides, there are a lot of dodges - just have a parent/sibling/significant other own the car you are going to use, and then you can sign any agreement you like.

The architect Sebastian Mariscal begins his plans for any future project with the same question, one that has little to do with the aesthetics of a building or the experience of the people who will one day use it. "When I design a building,” he says, "the first thing I have to resolve are my doors."

He means, by this, that he must weigh requirements mandating a specific number of doors for each new unit of housing or office space.

"Every developer and every architect starts the process like that,” Mariscal laments. "If I can put in 40 doors, then I can do 40 units.'"

The rest of a building then takes shape from there. Mariscal has recently been working on plans for an 18,000 square-foot lot in the Allston neighborhood of Boston that had been, until now, a surface parking lot with a used car dealership. Mariscal wants to construct a mixed-use building with 44 residential units, but door requirements mean he must condense the building, wasting oodles of space with entry and walkways and leaving no room for larger accommodations.

“People should realize that everything they need is available with easily available communications (phone, web, radio and TV), and a single vertical shaft allowing goods to be dropped into their unit. It’s the 21st century for goodness sake, this country needs to give up its obsession with “mobility” that’s destroying the quality of our lives!”

Construction is due to begin as soon as the 44 tenants and their Ikea furniture are in place on site.

I'm sure it may all look quirky and cute and harmless to Bostonians. But once the precedent is set (and the developer can yell "green" all he likes but the bottom line is that if he can put in more apartments and rent more retail space, he'll make more money, which is the real reason for eliminating parking) other developers will follow suit. Why not? IMO this would be even worse in a city like Boston than it is in Portland.

Boston has a far superior subway/lightrail/bus/train system. Compared to Portland, it is very easy to get by without a car in Boston if you work in town or are a college student. There's no comparison to Portland where the lightrail/train/bus system is pitiful.

While the architect sounds like an insufferable ass, this particular project might not be all bad. I’m guessing the neighborhood has zone parking, and this address would be restricted from receiving parking permits. While a tenant could sign his/her car over to someone else in the neighborhood, I don't think it would happen often.

Also, the neighborhood has a large student population, who actually often don't own cars. If they allow variances like these in heavily student populated neighborhoods, new housing stock could be built at lower costs, resulting in greater supply, easing pressure on rent escalation. As for thinking this concept will catch on widespread among real adults with families and become the new norm for development, now that remains wishful thinking.

Yes, let us stay put in our tiny abodes, in our 20 minute neighborhoods bicycling around the loop while the ruling elite drive to their 2nd and third homes at the coast, mountains, jet to Palm Springs etc. At the rate they are going around here, discretionary funds for anybody else to leave the city will be less and less plus tolls will add up to more being confined within the city as well.

Clinamen, the anti-car 20 minute ghetto types have claimed the moral high ground, and we must therefore bow to their wishes of how we should live our lives. Nanny state knows better. Now, go stitch together some biking rain gear because your
transportation "choice" is from Mia Birk's menu of how we should get around.

Road Work

Miles run year to date: 155
At this date last year: 241
Total run in 2015: 271
In 2014: 401
In 2013: 257
In 2012: 129
In 2011: 113
In 2010: 125
In 2009: 67
In 2008: 28
In 2007: 113
In 2006: 100
In 2005: 149
In 2004: 204
In 2003: 269